Journals of the natural world reveal fascinating details of life at the time.
These two journals, kept by Quakers in north-east and north-west England respectively, record in careful detail weather and agricultural events of their time and regions. But they also observe all manner of other things and events.
The journal of John Chipchase, schoolmaster of Stockton-upon-Tees, recently came to light for the very first time in a Montreal university library. It has much to say about weather and crops, but also meteor showers and the aurora borealis, lightning strikes, fatal diseases, fishing and fishkills, the homing instincts of cats, the life cycle of snails, fierce gales and consequent shipwrecks, and both the causes and local reactions to the near-famine of 1795. Elihu Robinson's record of weather, crops and prices has only been known in manuscript form to a few specialists. Possessed of both a barometer and thermometer, his sometimes even daily observations are remarkably meticulous. As an active Quaker, he also offers a rich description of their life and organization in the Northwest.
Taken together, these journals suggest something of the intellectual and cultural bent of two publicly engaged menof their time, both of middling status and informal education, living far from the cosmopolitan world of London and the universities.
ROBERT TITTLER is Distinguished Professor of History Emeritus at Concordia Universityin Montreal, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.